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WALK 7

Cwm Sere Valley

Start	Pont y Caniedydd (SO 039 244)
Distance	6.25km (3.6 miles)
Total Ascent	250m (820ft)
Map	OL12 Western Area

A low-level walk around one of the most beautiful and spectacular of the Welsh valleys. The sheer size and steepness of the impressive north-east face of Pen y Fan can be fully appreciated from the head of Cwm Sere. Like all valley walks there is little danger of getting lost, even in poor weather, and it can be enjoyed with a leisurely approach requiring not too much exertion. The main features of interest are the geological features of the headwalls and north-eastern faces, the glacial valleys and the woodlands.

From the car park turn right (N) along the road for 100m to where it bends to the right (NE) and flattens out at the crest of a hill. Leave the road through a gate, taking a track to the left (W). The track leads to Pant Farm after 200m and then curves round to the left in front of the buildings.

Continue on this track, leaving the buildings on your right, and climb steadily up the slope through a gap between hawthorn hedges. Bear right and then left, continuing in the direction of Cwm Sere to Croftau. Leave the house on your left, pass through the gate and a large oak on the right and keep to the left side of the field to another gate where you enter Cwm Sere proper.

Continue through yet another gate along the obvious track leading into sparse woodland and across to a gap in the tree line. Continue across the field for 300m to a line of trees in front of you. In the centre of this barrier is a gate leading to a track which bears slightly right past moss-covered ant hills and through mixed woodland of beech and hazel.

The track is easily followed as it drops through the woods, crossing a small stream running down from the right. At the end of the woodland is the hill fence through which a gate leads out onto the hillside, opening up a magnificent view of Cribyn on the left and Pen y Fan straight in front. Drop into the stream bed and follow this upstream, encountering small waterfalls on the way towards the headwall at the end of Cwm Sere between the north faces of Pen y Fan on the right and Cribyn on the left.

Cwm Sere and Pen y Fan

Cross over the stream and make your way back down the eastern side of the valley. The going is easier if you keep above the steep-sided stream gully, making use of the occasional sheep track. Eventually, the hill fence forces you above the stream and guides you to the gate where you meet the Roman Road. Take the stony track for 250m where you bear left when you meet a road.

CWM SERE WOODLAND

The woods on the eastern bank of Nant Sere are leased from the National Trust by the Brecknock Wildlife Trust and 42 acres are managed as a nature reserve. Even though it has been heavily grazed in the past, the majority of the trees appear to be very old. Parts of the woodland are very wet and these areas are dominated by alder. A particularly rich collection of insects, liverworts and fungi thrives in these boggy conditions where rotting wood is abundant. Drier areas of woodland are populated with ash, rowan, cherry, field maple and sessile oak. Brown birch is common near the top of the wood. Woodland birds are numerous and include willow warblers and redstarts with a surprisingly large rookery located in a clump of birches. Open glades in the wood are ideal habitats for species such as pied flycatchers. The reserve has a wide range of invertebrates including a number of specialities such as a rare lace-wing fly and rare craneflies. All in all, this reserve is a fascinating area, the combinations of damp and dry woodland and damp and dry glades resulting in a great variety of plant and animal species.

Follow this road down the hill and so back to the start just across Pont y Caniedydd.